ReOS Free Laptops is an initiative by South Perth Learning Centre that provides free laptops to eligible recipients such as detainees at the Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre. We do this by taking our members’ discarded/donated old laptops, and replacing the old operating system with a new one that can make it great again (thus 'ReOS').

Discarded Laptops

Most people throw out their laptops because they start to run slowly, or because the mainstream operating system providers (Microsoft and Apple) no longer provide security updates that keep the system safe from hackers. In January 2023, Microsoft stopped providing security updates to Windows 7, prompting most owners of computers with a ‘Windows 7’ sticker to throw them out (these are too old to run the latest Windows 11).

New Life Using Linux Mint

Linux Mint is a modern community-developed operating system from the Linux family that runs on low computer resources. To give you an idea, while latest Windows 11 computers realistically require minimum 8 GB RAM, 500 GB HD and 8th generation (2017) Intel Core processor, Linux Mint 20.3 can run nicely on 2 GB RAM, 64 GB HD with a 1st generation (2008) Intel Core processor. This means that 10+ year old computers that originally were sold with Windows 7, can comfortably run Linux Mint.

If you have a Windows 7 laptop lying around, why not bring it over to SPLC, we will 'ReOS' it with Linux Mint, and pass it on to give it a new life, which is even better than sending it to recycling!